Beyond The Red Line
by donamatter
Summary: The Battlestar Centaur was attached to the ghost fleet to test a time warp synthesiser created by teen genius. However a misfire caused the Centaur to jump far beyond the red line into the middle of nowhere. They are put in the middle of a new galaxy, new friends and enemies to be made a fearful truth is lingering far, far beyond the temporal red line.
1. Chapter 1

'Jump complete.'

The Navigations lieutenant waited for DRADIS to update and then turned around to face the Commander, 'zero DRADIS contacts.'

Commander Perseus and her XO Colonel Xavier stood at the center of the CIC, leaning on a flat topped table covered in maps and star charts. The Centaur was one of the newest Battlestars built in the war and one of few in the ghost fleet. The Centaur had been assigned to the ghost fleet for one mission, time manipulation research. A young genius was responsible for the conception of the time warp synthesizer.

'Where are we Lieutenant?' asked Perseus.

Lieutenant Argyris calculated the star fixes and the computer returned a result, making him lean back in his seat with shock.

'Star fixes put us way, way past the red line.'

Suddenly the sound of the DRADIS echo was interrupted by a short blip and three red dots entered onto the DRADIS screens.

'Three DRADIS contacts, wait … no four contacts!'

Another red dot appeared off the ships port, sitting still while the other three came closer to their starboard side. The Commander pulled the phone from its cradle and a low tone rang through the ship.

'Action stations, all hands prepare for combat!'

She put the phone back on its cradle and red lights began to flash in sync with an alert alarm. She ordered for the starboard gun captains to focus on the three incoming targets and the port gun captains to the single unmoving contact. Large dual barrelled gun batteries raised from the ships dorsal section and began to target their assigned locations.

'Gun captains report the three ships off our starboard are nothing they've ever seen before,' reported the Colonel, holding the phone to his head.

'Port gun captains report a large pronged device with a glowing blue core,' shrugged the Lieutenant.

'What the hell is this?'

The three ships off the starboard side slowed gradually to a halt and the ships broadside flak cannons primed ready to destroy incoming fighters. Viper pilots climbed into their Mk II vipers and the deck crews pushed them into launch tubes ready for deployment. Suddenly the comm console on the bridge sounded.

'Commander I'm getting a data packet.'

A sizable data packet was being transmitted to them, supposedly from the incoming ships. The data packet finished transmitting and the Lieutenant at the communications station took a piece of paper from a printer and handed it to the Commander.

The message included within the data packet said the ships belonged to the humans … from Earth. Earth was a legend, supposedly the location of the 13th tribe who left Kobol before the other 12.

'Earth? That's not possible.'

'Earth is just a legend, I didn't think it could be real.'

DRADIS blipped again and another three unknown signatures appeared on the screens over the mapping table and the one in front of Lieutenant Argyris.

'Another three DRADIS contacts, these ones are further out.'

'Unidentified vessel, this is the human vessel SSV Waterloo, please respond.'

The Commander looked across the table at the Colonel and turned around to the comms lieutenant, 'Patch me in.' She picked up the phone and held it to her head.

'You're live Commander.'

'This is Commander Perseus aboard the Battlsestar Centaur, I don't know who you are but my guns are trained on you, don't pull anything funny.'

'Commander … You sound human.'

'I am human. Are you?'

Suddenly the new DRADIS contacts began firing on the three human ships. The Commander tensed at the situation, the discovery of the 13th tribe wasn't an opportunity she was going to let slip.

'Commander, I don't know who you are but we need your help!'

'Helm, get us right in the center of this!'

'Yes, sir.'

Helm and navigation plotted a course to put them between the three human vessels and the other unknown vessels. The vipers in the launch tubes were pulled and reloaded with heavy ordnance before being launched. The main guns at the center of the ships dorsal section opened fire with salvo rounds, slamming against the enemy ships like boulders into a concrete wall. The ships seemed poorly armored but their weapons hit harder than any they had encountered. The ship was rocked by every impact, tossing the crew around like rag dolls and shaking things loose.

'Vipers, this is Centaur actual. Target weapon batteries and FTL drives.'

'Copy Centaur actual, consider these frakers toast.'

Two of the enemy ships were severely crippled and the other was pieces of hull plating and frozen bodies. The Viper pilots couldn't find any FTL drive exhausts so they began strafing runs up and down the dorsal sections of the ship. Once the ships couldn't jump out or return fire a surrender was broadcast on all channels.

'Prep 6 boarding parties, 3 for each ship. Recall the vipers.'

'Vipers come on home, repeat come on home,' said the Colonel before switching to the ships intercom, 'Boarding parties report to the starboard flight deck for boarding prep.'

'What's the damage?'

'Minimal Commander, hull is intact, I'm getting reports of minor injuries and head traumas but other than that were all here.'

**30 minutes later **

Captain Marcus Pierce walked onto the CIC of the Centaur and looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings. He was still shocked to find another human like race in the depths of space, so far beyond the Arcturus prime relay. Commander Perseus and Colonel Xavier stood at the central table, mapping out star fixes known to the 13th tribe.

'Commander Perseus I presume,' said Pierce holding his hand out for Perseus to shake.

'Captain Pierce, welcome aboard the Centaur; this is my XO Colonel Xavier.'

Xavier shook Pierces hand and returned to plotting fixes with a lieutenant as Perseus took him aside to a smaller table with maps and pieces of paper spread across it.

'My boarding parties have secured the remaining enemy ships but before we could contain them they managed to get some sort of transmission off,' explained Perseus.

'So there will be more,' said Pierce.

'I believe so. How soon can your ships get here?'

'The relay is only a system away, a matter of hours. They shouldn't be very far away.'

Perseus and Pierce continued to converse a moment before a young guard walked in and escorted them to the brig where a Turian Commander was locked up. Pierce had never laid eyes on an alien race before, however Perseus had seen plenty of cylons but no other species'.

'Sergeant of the Guard, open the cell.'

The sergeant opened the cell door and they walked as he shut it behind them. The Turian was in deep silver armor and had grey and red carapaces upon its head and a pair of glaring eyes. Its mandibles twitched as they approached. The Turian activated its omni – tool, Perseus flicked the hold on her sidearm back, in case it was going to try something. It put its arm back down and the glowing orange tool disappeared.

'I'm Commander Perseus, CO of this ship; who are you?'

'I am Captain Epimia Gaisis, who is this man with you?'

'Captain Pierce, Alliance navy.'

'We know you sent off a transmission before we boarded, how many are coming?'

'Enough to wipe you from existence.'

The Colonel stood on the CIC looking over the star fixes that Lieutenant Argyris mapped out. The fixes were different from this perspective, they had never been this far beyond the redline before. The fixes were crucial to plotting jump coordinates, a few auxiliary jump locations had been plotted already in case a hot exit was required.

'Have those coordinates put on the jump computers back log,' ordered Xavier.

'Yes, sir.'

'Lieutenant Argyris, how are we going with those hull repairs?'

'We've still got 3 raptors out there finishing up sir.'

'Make sure their back in before company arrives.'

'Yes, sir.'

The repairs to the hull weren't taking too long but if the abrasions were left and they went into combat again they would become either larger abrasions or cracks. Xavier was used to commanding the Sage, an Orion class pocket battlestar in the Caprica defense fleet. Being the XO of a Galactica class battlestar was far different, and far more stressing. However now he didn't have to worry about running into a cylon baseship, the Centaur would send just one through the mincer.

Xavier looked over the codex Captain Pierce had given them on their people, they were not all that different. Their biology was identical and their way of life was not much different, however unlike the 12 colonies they hadn't developed FTL drives before finding the schematics for them on Mars; the Prothean archive.

'Colonel the abrasions on the starboard bow have been repaired but the final two raptors are reporting far more serious abrasions on the starboard side and starboard stern.'

'How long?'

'Another hour sir.'

'They have 45 minutes.'

The Lieutenant notified the Raptor crews and the Colonel went back to his reading. He loved to read, mostly text books about ships from the past and the present. He had shelves of model ships in his quarters and a whole floor to roof shelf spanning a wall full of books. He was one of few officers who completely finished his through the military academy and became a ship technician aboard the Evander, a pocket battlestar he went on to command before being transferred here.

'Colonel I'm getting some strange readings.'

'Such as?'

'I'm not sure, large objects incoming at high velocity.'

'DRADIS?'

'Their moving too fast.'

DRADIS blipped as dots appeared on the screens above where Xavier was standing. Lieutenant Argyris sprinted to the nav console and cross checked the signatures.

'Sir, they're not Alliance. Four ships just jumped in.'

'Patch me ship wide.'

The Communications officer patched the Colonels phone to the ships intercom.

'All hands this is the XO, set condition 1 throughout the ship; action stations. Commander Perseus to the CIC,' he put the phone back on its cradle and turned to the coms lieutenant, 'Recall the repair raptors, tell gun captains to train their guns on the impound ships and wait for the order, and launch the alert vipers.'

The deck crews loaded up the Vipers and readied them in the launch tubes. Turian Mass Effect cores were far more efficient than human ones, making their arrival far sooner. The Alliance ships maneuvered to make a line at either end of the Centaur. The repair Raptors quickly retreated into the starboard flight pod and made a swift combat landing.

Commander Perseus and Captain Pierce arrived on the CIC, Perseus tied her hair back and a low tail and positioned herself across the table from Xavier. Pierce stood at the end of the table with white knuckles as the ship was hit.

'Main guns, Charlie through Victor to switch to salvo fire,' ordered Perseus assuming command seamlessly.

Xavier picked up his phone and connected to the gun captains. The Alert Vipers launched and began giving support fire to the Centaur, strafing runs across the dorsal sections of the enemy ships. The ships that had jumped in were larger than the ones that they had encountered earlier and they were doing a lot more damage. The damage control console began to report a series of hull abnormalities within a mere 3 minutes of the engagement.

'Commander we can't hold them off forever,' warned Xavier.

The Alliance ships were suffering serious damage, they were faring worse than they were. If they to avoid destruction they would have to leave.

'Captain contact your ship, tell them to return to your outpost. Lieutenant Argyris; spool up the FTL drive, we're leaving.'

The Captain walked up to the coms lieutenant and contacted his ships. The Lieutenant pushed up a console near his and dialed in the correct calculations to jump to the Alliance outpost. The FTL drives would need 20 minutes to spool up before being able to make a jump. The chatter of the viper pilots trafficked over the speakers and Perseus watched their DRADIS representations swooping around the enemy ships. As the Alliance ships turned tail and jumped away the Turian ships focused all their fire on the Centaur.

'You're taking a huge risk here Commander,' said the Captain.

'We can hold them off,' she replied bluntly.

As the countdown clock ticked over the damage control teams began to gear up as cracks in the hull began to emerge on the starboard side. The Commander ordered the helm to take them in closer and spin them around so their port side was facing the fire, relieving the stress on the starboard side. The DC teams made for the affected areas of the ship and assessed the damage. As the clock ticked under 10 minutes the end of the battle was near but they'd learned not to get their hopes up.

'Sir, ship to ship missiles incoming!'

'Jackknife moving to intercept.'

Jackknife was the Centaur's CAG, a skilled pilot who had made same for himself killing flying toasters. Jackknife pulled away from his arrow head formation and pursued the missiles. He managed to destroy one and then a second but the third made fall on Centaur's forward hull plating, exploding silently and quickly. They were shook around and the hull had been breached but no supports had buckled which was a good thing.

'Sorry, sir,' apologized Jackknife.'

'You're lucky that wasn't a nuke or I'd have your ass.'

Jackknife chuckled at the Commander's dry humor and began to head back to the ships when suddenly his Viper was split by a projectile from one of the ships. His viper exploded in a flurry of dying fire and blood that hung in the vacuum of space. The Commander and the bridge crew watched on in horror as his vipers DRADIS contact disappeared off the screen. No signals, no emergency distress beacon; only silence and the banging of projectiles slamming against the Centaurs hull.

'Recall the Vipers and retract the flight pods.'

Xavier nodded slightly and ordered the Vipers to make a combat landing. The vipers returned and the flight pods locked into place, ready to jump.

'Ready to jump Commander,' advised the Lieutenant.

'Begin the countdown.'

The Lieutenant picked up the blue pronged jump key and held it a moment. He held it at the lip of the socket before picking up a nearby phone and beginning the countdown.

'All hands, jumping i … jump.'

The ship disappeared in a gold implosion as he turned the key, expelling a vacuum and reappearing in open space near a strange structure. Multiple DRADIS contacts appeared as the flight pods extended, all Alliance. The large structure appeared as Alliance, roughly 5 kilometers in length.

'Jump complete; six confirmed Alliance tags; we made it.'

The bridge slowly began to celebrate their accomplishment. Even though they had lost a skilled and respected officer, they had to continue.

'Now to figure out where the frak we are,' said the Commander.

'So say we all,' agreed the Colonel.


	2. Chapter 2

**4 months ago**

Xavier stood at the small table behind a tall mapping screen between him and the exit of the CIC. A short dead end corridor was lined with consoles behind him and men and woman at those consoles. They were in a synchronous orbit around Caprica, the seat of the quorum of 12 and the President of the colonies. The Sage was a small pocket Battlestar for extended scouting missions, usually. However now that they were assigned to the Caprican defense fleet, the Sage was used for ferrying supplies.

Admiral Aelius was in command of the Caprican defense fleet, a prestigious and old man who was highly respected among his peers and men. The Admiral had asked for the Colonel personally, aboard the Battlestar Lynx the best and strongest of its class. Xavier was born on Gemini, and being an off worlder he could see that Caprica was the best and boldest of the colonies. The best planet obviously got the best ships.

'Lieutenant Aetius, you have the comm until I return.'

'Yes, sir.'

The Colonel exited the CIC via a nearby angled ladder and entered onto a rafter and continued onto his raptor in the ships small launch bay. The Fleet was one of the largest, second largest to be exact. The largest was in the Delta Helios system, protecting Canceron and Aerilon. The Raptor flew out of a separate launch bay via a pair of retracting doors. The Sage was miniscule compared to Admiral Aelius' battlestar, inferior in every way. The Galactica was the first of the type and due to its success more have been put into service and are considered a strategic military resource.

Admiral Aelius sat at his desk reading after action reports and logs from several scouting missions that had returned from a routine scouting run. The large box near his desk buzzed and he put down the wad of paper and picked up the phone.

'Admiral, Colonel Xavier has just landed.'

'Send him here, thank you Lieutenant.'

He hung the phone back up and returned to his reading. The Admiral had been in the military for nearly 40 years, his retirement was getting close. His bones creaked every morning when he got out of bed and his cancer was becoming more of a concern. He had been suffering from stomach cancer for a couple of years, but it wasn't until now it had become aggressive. The Doctor said it was spreading across his body, nodes popping up everywhere and there was nothing he could do. Suddenly a fist pounded against the room's bulkhead and he jerked to attention.

'Enter!'

The sound of the doors turn wheel creaked and the clunk of the door opening echoed through the room. Colonel Xavier walked around the small wall between the entry and the rest of the room. He came closer before stopping and saluting the Admiral. The Admiral stood up.

'At ease Colonel,' he said saluting.

'Thank you, sir,' said Xavier sitting down across the desk, 'Might I ask why I am here?'

'Well, it's simple. I'm transferring you to the Centaur as her new XO under Commander Perseus.'

'You're what? The new Battlestar in the Canceron fleet?'

'The very same.'

The Battlestar Centaur was the newest of the Jupiter class line and commanded by one of the most revered Commanders in the entirety of the Colonial navy; Commander Lynda Perseus. The Admiral pushed a grey folder with the colonial military seal printed on the front in black.

'Give this to Commander Perseus on your arrival, she'll be pleased to see you.'

'Yes, sir.'

'A raptor is prepped, Corporal Kerrison will take you there.'

**Soon after aboard in orbit around Canceron…**

'Raptor 375, this is Centaur you have the ball.'

'Copy Centaur, we have the ball.'

The hull of the Centaur was brand new and unmarked, gloss in appearance and grey in color. Its Colonial seal was fitted into the dorsal section at the lip of the 'alligator' head and the central section. Large dual barreled main batteries rested against the hull in standby pose, waiting to see their first battle. The Raptor slowed down to touch down on the floor of the flight pod with a clunk and the landing platform began to descend through floor, transporting them to the flight decks.

Commander Perseus stood on the CIC reading through some paperwork, the fleet was readying for an assault any day now. The Cylon's had been making advances towards Canceron and now that they were here everything seemed so much more frightening. Perseus was once the XO aboard the Galactica under Silas Nash. Silas was the person who taught her how this war defined them, how this war with machines will shape things to come; the shape of things to come.

Xavier walked onto the CIC clutching the file given to him by the Admiral and approached the Commander. He stopped at her side and saluted while handing the file to her. The Commander saluted in return and Xavier stood at ease. Perseus took the file and quickly flicked through it.

'So, your my XO; I've heard great things of you and your little pocket battlestar.'

'All tall tales I assure you, we don't get up to much these days.'

'I'll keep you busy, no shortage of action here.'

'I'm honored to serve aboard such a remarkable vessel.'

'Then take your post, Colonel Xavier.'

He walked around the table and stood across from Perseus with the feeling of completion in his gut, the only milestone left was to become commander of a Jupiter class Battlestar. Suddenly DRADIS blipped and unknown contact appeared on the screens above the table.

'DRADIS contact, no transponder; has to be a raider.'

'Well Colonel, you picked one hell of a day to join us.'

**April 20****th****, 2157  
>Arcturus Station construction project – 5 years from completion<strong>

The SSV New Delhi seemed to drift alongside the larger Battlestar Centaur, watching it like a hawk; weary of its surroundings. Commander Perseus smirked at the poor size of the best ship they could muster, something supposed to be a cruiser. Their frigates, the bulk of their fleets were smaller than the smallest military vessel in the colonial military. The Centaur was a whole eight hundred meters long than the New Delhi and better armed. However despite the poor armaments the ships were protected by something they called kinetic barriers; shield like defenses that slowed down projectiles.

Perseus put down the reader and took a gulp of the brownish liquid that half-filled the glass in her hand. Her jacket hung over the back of her chair and her feet were rest on the desk in front of her. Fighting Cylon's wasn't good business but it beat the frak out of first contact situations. The Cylon's were unrelenting robots, no negotiations, not like humans; too much background politics. Politics was Xavier's strong suit, no doubt the reason Admiral Aelius assigned him to the Centaur.

**Aboard the SSV New Delhi…**

Admiral Grissom and his second in command, Commander Hackett guided Xavier onto the bridge after a ship wide tour. The bridge was lit mostly by the large hologram floating at the center of the room, surrounded by a ring of consoles. The Turian prisoners had been taken aboard Arcturus station for interrogation. Grissom had promised that they would be given star charts and mass relay locations once they had signed a treaty for a type of Alliance.

'As you can see, very different to your battlestar,' said Grissom.

'Indeed, but I see potential. If we can share knowledge, both of our people will benefit.'

'I'm glad you see it that way, the necessary paper work is over here.'

Grissom and Hackett showed him to a small table where a piece of paper secured in a cream folder sat and a chrome pen sat next to it. The chrome pen reminded him of the chrome domes, Cylons. They had made so many other names for them: Chrome domes, toasters, flying toasters, chrome toasters and so many more. Xavier happily picked up the pen and signed his name on the line at the bottom of the page Grissom held out his hand for Xavier to shake and now Hackett was holding some kind of Camera. Xavier shook Grissom's hand and the crew stood up in cheer, clapping and whistling at the first signing of an alliance. Hackett took a series of pictures for the extranet.

Xavier left the New Delhi for the Centaur on board his Raptor that had landed in the cruisers cargo hold beside a primitive shuttle of sorts. The raptor landed in the flight pod and moved into the starboard flight deck. Xavier made his way to the bridge where he discovered Perseus was already there waiting for him and on his arrival picked up the phone.

'All hands, begin jump prep.'

'Commander, what are you doing?'

'My priority is getting us home and that's what I'm going to do.'

The flight pods began to retract and Lieutenant Argyris readied the jump key over the socket with a slight smile on his face. The Pods locked into place and Argyris began the countdown as he inserted the key.

'3 2 1, jump!'

The Centaur dematerialized in a gold flash and its wake pushed the New Delhi away, causing minor dents to appear in its hull. The ship's crew are tossed across the ship and wires shorted out with sparks and hisses. Grissom stumbled back to his feet and began helping his bridge crew back to their feet and noticed that the Centaur had disappeared.

'Damn it! Get me Admiral Masters.'

The Centaur rematerialized in orbit around a planet engulfed in thick grey clouds and crawling sprawls of lightning. The flight pods extended and a prepared Raptor was dispatched immediately towards the planet.

'Dear gods, are we sure this is the right planet?' questioned Sword, the Raptors pilot.

'Raptor 01 this is Centaur actual, sitrep,' said the Commander over the phone.

'The planets engulfed in grey clouds and what looks like lightning.'

Perseus tightened her grip on the phone and gave a quick stone glance to Xavier then looked back down at the table. The Raptor began to enter the atmosphere over the location DRADIS was showing a large cluster of objects. They descended through the multiple cloud layers and suddenly entered into a dimly lit sky above a decimated city. The bulbous towers were stripped to their frames and the ground was barren with zero visible plant life.

'No, no, no!'

'Report Sword.'

'It's all gone, nothings left,' he replied with a stuttered voice.

'FraK!' cried Perseus.

She slammed the phones speaker into the table and it smashed to pieces, she threw back behind her blindly and then stood silently. The bridge crew watched in silence, not sure whether to make noise or stay silent.

'Commander what is going on, where are we?'

'We're in orbit around Canceron, at least what's left of it.'

'What?'

'When we made a misfire jump, the TWS was active. We have jumped through time.'

'The Time Warp Synthesizer? Oh frak.'

**Cylon Space – Battlestar Valkyrie  
>42 BCH<strong>

The CIC buzzed with activity as Dr Orestes explained to Commander Nausicaa what the signal they were receiving was. Ever since the Centaur jumped away a strange signal was being transmitted from an unknown location, somewhere unmapped.

'This is a temporal beacon. It's like a distress beacon that transmits across time,' explained Orestes.

'Can we calculate a jump from it?' asked Nausicaa.

'Absolutely let me make the necessary coordinate calculations in the jump computer.'

Orestes was a young genius, his hyper intelligence is accredited to being conceived and incubated in space. He was born on Sagittaron and nearly immediately taken back into space when his father, Julian Orestes the Valkyrie's XO, was deployed for a third tour. Commander Nausicaa pressed the button beside the phone for the ships intercom.

'This is the Commander, begin jump prep.'

The ship burst to life as Orestes translated the temporal coordinates into FTL jump calculations, making sure they don't jump to the wrong time zone.

'Commander, don't you think this is a little premature?' wondered Colonel Orestes.

'The Centaur is needed for the offensive, we need every ship.'

'What if we can't return, what if we can't make the jump back?'

The Commander turned around to look at Orestes and gave him a stern stare. Orestes was engrossed in his calculation before briefly looking up and noticing the staring Commander.

'Something the matter Commander?'

'Are you sure we can make the return jump?'

Orestes paused before answering. His calculations could only be so perfect but he wasn't completely sure he could accurately calculate a return jump.

'No, I am not 100% sure. But we are ready to jump.'

Now Nausicaa was faced with a difficult decision. If he orders the jump he risks not being able to return but if he orders the stand down he loses the best ship in the fleet. There was another two Valkyrie like ships and several support vessels, more than enough for running defense if needed. Even so one less ship is one less line of defense for the fleet.

'Start the countdown Doctor,' ordered Nausicaa.

Doctor Orestes Pulled the phone off its cradle and a low drone echoed through the ship, as if for dramatic effect.

'All hands, Jump in 3 2 1. Jump!'


	3. Beginnings

**Orbit of Canceron  
>200,000 years after the fall<strong>

Xavier was being overwhelmed by reports from the three scouting raptors in the planet's atmosphere: soil sample analyses, radiation levels and damage analyses. They'd been at it for a good 10 hours straight and the Commander was held up in her quarters. Her whole family were on Canceron, everything she cared for had been killed by some kind of nuclear holocaust.

'Put me through to the Commander's quarters,' ordered the Colonel.

He picked up the phone to a ringing tone, he stood there for at least a minute waiting for her to pick up the phone. It was unusual for her to not answer, she was probably sleeping off the stress; at least that's what it seemed like. He put the phone back on the cradle and pondered a moment. Between this discovery, malfunctioning point defense systems and an AWOL CO he was losing his sanity. Major Rhea was across the table with a concerned look on his face, the face most of them were wearing.

'Major Rhea you have the comm, I'm going to check on Commander Perseus.'

'Yes, Colonel.'

Xavier walked off the CIC through a bulkhead and entered into a maze of identical hallways. Her quarters were near the CIC for obvious reasons. He reached the bulkhead that had: 'Commanding Officer' written on the door in bold white text. He knocked at the door several times before opening it up himself and walking in. Her bed was indented in the wall at the end of the room, just behind her desk. It was as he suspected, she was in bed sound asleep in silence.

'Commander, wake up!'

He walked over and rocked her back and forth by the shoulder; she was disturbingly difficult to wake and not a breath came from her. He rolled her onto her back to see her skin cladded with sweat and her skin cold to the touch. His heart began to race and his mind ran through the possible things wrong with her. Then he suddenly arrived at one conclusion; all these symptoms were most likely the result of an overdose. He pulled back the covers to see a trio of syringes, all empty.

'Frak me, morpha.'

Morpha was written in red along the sides of the syringes. Morpha is used conventionally as a powerful painkiller in the colonial military; however an overdose can prove fatal. He rushed to the phone beside the Commanders desk.

'Medic to the CO's quarters ASAP!' he cried.

The medics dispatched from the ships sickbay with the ship's Doctor, Eli Boaz. They rushed like a stampede of elephants to the Commanders quarters where the Colonel was waiting with Perseus in his arms. He laid her on the bed and the Doctor began to examine her with his stethoscope and multitude of other instruments.

'Morpha overdose, I found these in her bed with her,' said Xavier handing over the empty syringes.

'Frak, alright get her to the med bay, prep an IV.'

Colonel Xavier walked onto the CIC and relieved Major Rhea of the command who returned to being Xavier's XO. The Commander had been placed in a medically induced coma to allow the Doctor to monitor her safely. All the raptors had returned and all that they had was themselves, and this battlestar they called home. They could go around all the colonies, checking for any signs of civilization but what would that bring them? More pain.

'Major, were packing in the towel.'

'Sir, we're leaving?'

Xavier nodded. He wasn't used to being on this side of the table, this was the final thing he had to tick off his bucket list; commanding a Jupiter class Battlestar. The Major picked up his phone and the alert horn rang throughout the ship.

'This is the XO, begin jump prep.'

The bridge broke into a flurry of activity and Lieutenant Argyris pushed up the FTL console and quickly opened up the coordinate input.

'Where are we going sir?'

'Plot a jump for Arcturus, our new friends in the Alliance will be needing us I suspect.'

**April 22nd, 2157  
>Arcturus station – N7 graduation<strong>

Jon Grissom looked over the N7 graduates with a feeling of gratitude about him. These recruits represented the first generation of the best soldiers humanity had to offer. He had his eye on one particular graduate who showed some serious skills in the courses; David Anderson. He saw the smirks on their faces and how much they seemed to admire the medals he had pinned on their uniforms.

'Graduates, you stand here in this hall of humanity with your pride with you and gods speed at your back. You are the most skilled and demonstrate the highest level of proficiency,' announced Grissom through the podiums microphone.

The door behind Grissom opened and Lieutenant Hakcett walked onto the wide podium with a grim look on his face. Admiral Drescher followed him in with same look on her face, she closed the door and stood silently in front of it.

'Admiral, a drone has just jumped off the relay and transmitted some rather concerning information.'

'I am in the middle of a ceremony here.'

'Sir, the Turians have laid siege to Shanxi. All naval defenses have been all but destroyed.'

Grissom suddenly fell silent, Hackett handed him a data pad that contained the information received in the transmission. He turned around and decided to address the graduates of the situation.

'I have just been informed that the colony of Shanxi has been besieged by the Turians, the alien species we encountered only a few days ago.'

The room was silent, you could her the shock in the room as clear as anything. Grissom was never inclined enough to be an Admiral; he was an explorer and not a military commander. Everybody looked up to him like he was some kind of prophet; a god in man's clothing.

'I am tasking Admiral Drescher and the second fleet with the retaking of the colony and you all will be the first soldiers to kill a Turian. The occupation of Shanxi will be quelled.'

Admiral Drescher gasped at Grissom's decision to task her with the retaking of Shanxi; her fleet wasn't at full strength. Several of the frigates in the fleet were still being finished off and the cruisers were still being stocked with ammunition and guns. They were in no shape to fight. Admiral Grissom dismissed the graduates and they returned to the New Delhi to discuss the matter.

'Send the first fleet, they can deploy quicker and more likely handle whatever comes there way.'

'The first fleet are a reactionary installment here at Arcturus, sending them would leave Arcturus open to attack.'

'With all due respect Admiral, it will be another month before the second fleet is battle ready,' commented Hackett.

'Then we wait another month.'

'You can't be serious, what…'

'Can it Drescher! General Williams is an excellent commander, he'll keep his men and the civilians safe.'

Suddenly the ship shook again like an earthquake. Grissom sprung to action and sprinted for the bridge with Drescher and Hakcett in tow. When he arrived on the bridge the reason for the tremor was obvious; a large vessel was sitting in the viewport staring back at them. They clenched at the sight of the Centaurs hulking great body.

'Admiral Grissom this is Centaur actual, respond.'

Grissom walked up to a console in the ring around the hologram of Arcturus and opened a channel with Centaur.

'Is that you Colonel Xavier?'

'Grissom, good to hear from you. I apologize for our abrupt exit yesterday, the Commander decided to chase a lead.'

'We need to talk, I think it's time I came aboard the Centaur.'

'I agree, a raptor is on its way. Centaur actual out.'

Admiral Grissom turned around to look at the Centaur and sighed. Hakcett and Drescher came alongside him, mesmerized by the size of the Centaur. Grissom had no doubt that if Xavier wanted to he could blow the New Delhi a sunder.

'Let's get down to the hold, we have a meeting to attend.'

**10 Minutes later aboard the Centaur **

As they stepped off the Raptor the scope of the ship was felt, the launch bays were enormous but only took up a quarter of the ship. Xavier showed them around the ship with an obvious feeling of defeat about him. Even the crew that they had passed were dismal and down, like they had nothing to aim for, nothing to live for. When they reached the CIC they were directed to stand at the end of a table covered in wads of paper and a set of colored markers. The consoles and communications seemed so inferior to their own to look at but were on par if not better.

'Where is the Commander?' asked Grissom.

'She's in the med bay,' replied Xavier bluntly.

'If I might ask, why are you all so down?' asked Drescher.

'When we jumped away we arrived at Canceron, the Commander's home planet. The whole planet had been subject to a nuclear winter.'

'What are you saying?'

'I'm saying, the reason we are so down is because we are the last of our kind; the last of the 12 colonies.'

They couldn't imagine what it would be like to on the very brink of extinction, the last of their species. Grissom suddenly grabbed Xavier by the shoulder and turned him around to look directly into his eyes. He could see the desperation in his eyes, he could feel the Colonels body shaking slightly fear or perhaps nervousness. He couldn't help but feel sorry for them all.

'Then we need each other, you need us,' said Grissom.

'I need a way to get back to my time, to prevent the destruction of the colonies.'

'We can do that together. I promise you we will get you home.'

The bridge suddenly focused on Grissom and Xavier, Grissom looked around at their weary faces soaking up their desperation.

'I promise you I will get you back to your families, your homes, your true lives!' cried Grissom, 'Trust in us and you will see the 12 colonies again, I swear that to you. I swear on my life you will get home.'

Everyone was dead silent until a clap echoed through the CIC. Major Rhea had begun to clap for the Admiral's speech, soon the whole CIC participated in a slow clap until an all-out celebration broke out. Xavier shook Grissom's hand and then continued onto Hackett and Drescher before pushing a button beside the phone that had been taken off of the cradle, broadcasting Grissom's speech across the ship. The cheers and laughter of the celebrating crew exploded over the CIC's speakers and Grissom felt the weight he had put behind the speech.

'Thank you Admiral, your one hell of a motivational speaker.'

'I meant it Colonel, if we work together, help each other; we can both find a home in this galaxy.'

**Battlestar Valkyrie**

The Valkyrie was equipped with the second Time Warp Synthesizer (TWS) after the Centaur. The plan for the TWS was to send a Battlestar back into the past and warn Daniel Graystone of what his invention will do; the danger it poses. The Admiralty were aware of the consequences in changing the timeline, the future would be changed and the cylon war would never have happened.

The Viper squadrons scouted around like swarms of bees originating from the Valkyrie, the proverbial hive. The Commander and his XO watched the DRADIS screens in absolute awe as the mass of ships surrounded them. Even at maximum range DRADIS couldn't even account for quarter of the ships in the closing monstrosity.

'How many ships is that?' asked Commander Nausicaa.

'About 3,000 sir, and there are a lot more outside of DRADIS range,' replied the navigation Lieutenant.

'Holy frak,' sighed Colonel Orestes.

Communication with the mass of ships was useless, all the frequencies were nothing but static and empty echoes. He could give the order to ready weapons but they were insanely outnumbered by an unknown mass of ships.

'FTL?' wondered the Colonel.

'Still in cool down, we can't jump for another 30 minutes,' replied his son.

Outnumbered and out of options, not the most ideal of situations. The bombardment from so many ships would rip the hull apart in minutes, they were practically staring death in the face. Suddenly the communications officer as a message came over his headset and he put it over the speakers.

'Unknown vessel this is Admiral Lumm'Vemos vas Teemorn of the Quarian migrant fleet, state your identity and intentions.'

The Commander quickly picked up the phone, desperate to save his crew from immediate destruction at the hands of these Quarians.

'This is Commander Aaron Nausicaa aboard the Battlestar Valkyrie, we have made a blind jump to this location; we mean you no harm.'

The line went silent for a few tense moments as their fate was being decided by what was an alien species that spoke their language.

'…All ships break off, you do not have my trust Commander but you have my curiosity. I'm sending you directions to my ships upper hangar, you may bring an accomplis but be unarmed; Admiral Lumm'Vemos vas Teemorn out.'

The Commander turned to Doctor Orestes and ordered him to come with him to the Quarian ship, this was the first time they had made first contact with another species. The Colonel arranged a raptor for them and soon enough they were en-route to a large ship with a massive sphere at the forward section and a long cylindrical section making up the rear. Upon arrival they were met by squads of humanoid aliens it what seemed to be some kind of environmental suit, all with their guns hoisted upward at them. One stood at the center of the formation unarmed, which was the one the Commander presumed was the Admiral.

'For the record I still don't think this was a good idea,' said the Doctor.

'It was the only way we weren't going to get our asses blown to pieces.'

The Quarian Admiral walked closer and met with the Commander and the Doctor. They stood there for a moment in silence, soaking each other in.

'Commander, Quarian's are not overly accepting of outsiders. This is my ship, and it is my decision to bring you aboard; pull anything, and I will not hesitate to kill you.'

'I understand, I want to discuss peace, not violence,' replied the Commander.

'I can respect that. We will conduct negotiations here, your reveal to the greater consensus will come later.'

The Commander was lead to a table where three seats were setup and three grey plates behind it. As they sat down a Quarian appeared over each of the three grey plates on the floor, types of holograms.

'These are the Admirals of the fleet, I am commander of the Civilian fleet.'

'I am Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, commander of the patrol fleet.'

'I am Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema, commander of the heavy fleet.'

'I am Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh, commanding officer of special projects.'

'I am Commander Aaron Nausicaa, commanding officer of the Battlestar Valkyrie,' saluted thed Commander.

'Doctor Marques Orestes, chief scientist aboard the Valyrie,' said the Doctor.

Introductions were out of the way and the Commander sat down across the table from the Admirals with the Doctor. The Admirals found the Commander and the Doctor too look similar to themselves in overall shape and facial features. However they hadn't seen each other's faces in so long, the dream of returning to the home world forces them to remember.

'You said you arrived by a 'blind jump,' what exactly does that mean?' asked Admiral Daro'Xen.

'Exactly as it sounds. We jumped without inputting an exact target area, we were taking a massive chance.'

'Where are you from?' asked Admiral Shala'Raan.

'I'm from Caprica.'

'We're from another point in time. Judging by the fact we have never encountered your species before or any other for that matter, I would speculate we are from the distant past,' explained the Doctor.

'Time travel, you have a means of travelling through time?' asked Daro'Xen.

'It's very experimental, I'm not even sure we can jump back to our own time.'

The Doctor's calculations weren't off, the Commander had made the mistake of making a moving jump. If they had been stationery the Doctor's calculations would've sent them to the exact same location in another time. However they jumped while moving, so the calculations were inaccurate rendering the jump blind; they were lucky they didn't end up in a sun.

'You're stuck here,' said Han'Gerrel.

'More or less,' replied the Commander.

'Personally I think we should help,' said Admiral Lumm'Vemos.

The Quarian Admirals hesitantly agreed but were quietly mustering a condition that the Commander nor the Doctor would like.

'On one condition, you give us everything you have on artificial intelligences,' ordered Daro'Xen.

The Commander suddenly got a dark look about him and the Doctor leaned back in his chair with a huff. The Cylons were the brain child of Dr Daniel Graystone, the result of advanced and dangerous artificial intelligence research. The Cylon's rebelled against the colonials and have killed millions of innocent men and women.

'Why?' asked the Commander.

'300 years ago we were forced from our home world by the Geth, a race of synthetic lifeforms we created…'

'Now you're a bunch of nomads without a planet to call home, biding your time until you can retake it.'

'Yes, you seem very inclined on the subject.'

'We created the same sort of intelligence, we call them the Cylons. We created them to be cannon fodder, however their use expanded into the common workforce. We are currently 10 years into a war to eradicate them once and for all.'

'Then perhaps we have some common ground to stand on,' said Shala'Raan.

The Commander smiled slightly. The Cylons had murdered so many people and yet they were the means to broker peace with a people that could've killed them all. The Cylons had never been what he considered saviors, but today they saved over 2,000 lives.

'Good. Then we have some work to do.'

'Agreed. Welcome to the migrant fleet Commander.'


	4. Tribulations

**May 19****th****, 2157  
>Demeter, Tau Ceti system<strong>

Commander Perseus stood on the top side of the CIC over the shoulder of a specialist monitoring comm traffic. The Alliance technicians had made improvements to the Centaurs systems and communications. Kinetic barriers had been fitted and experimental anti-proton thrusters were mounted to the ship. The new thrusters would allow for faster conventional travel and the barriers would assist like shields.

'Commander, ship reports jump ready!' informed the Colonel.

'Good, Lieutenant Argyris standby to jump,' ordered the Commander.

The crew were fresh off shore leave on an alien planet, however in the month they had been here the Alliance have become like family. The blueprints for the battlestars and plans for future classes were given to the alliance in exchange for the resupply of ammunition and locations of large asteroid belts for Tylium mining. Now that the quad-pod thrusters are anti-proton only a small amount of Tylium was required to power the remaining two thrusters and the FTL drives.

The Commander arrived at the central table across from Xavier and picked up the phone, broadcasting ship wide.

'This is the Commander. Today marks the first deployment of the Centaur since its arrival here, today we make our ancestors and descendant's proud. The occupation of Shanxi ends now, set condition one throughout the ship.'

She put the phone back on its cradle and gave a quick nod to Lieutenant Argyris to start the countdown. The Lieutenant began the FTL jump countdown over the ships intercom. The ship sat silent for a moment before jumping. The ship reemerged in the star system as planned near Shanxi's closest moon. DRADIS updated to show three Turian ships in orbit around the planet. The Turians deployed small drones, in response launch tubes boomed as vipers shot from them and took up formation outside Centaurs kill zone. Resources from the Alliance gave the ships maintenance crews the opportunity to repair the ships point defense system.

The Vipers engaged the incoming drones and soon the space around the Centaur ignited in ordnance explosions. As they moved closer to the Turians the main batteries warmed up and pummeled them with heavy rounds. The ships armor scorched as the Turian rounds collided with it but the kinetic barrier slowed them down to such a point they hardly harmed the armor. Now that the point defense system was up and running few projectiles made it to the hull.

'Adjust pitch by minus 30 degrees, prepare disruptor torpedos,' ordered the Commander.

The ships nose turned down slightly, making the topside of the ship face upward toward the Turians. The newly fitted Disruptor torpedoes on the Raptors and Centaur were warheads capable of disrupting kinetic barriers and rapidly oscillating space time. A Raptor sitting on the edge of the system received the order and jumped in right on top of the Turians. Its disruptor torpedoes impacted and ripped through them like hot knives through butter.

They didn't last long after that, the Turians weren't accustom to Colonial tactics and didn't expect a raptor to surprise them.

'General Williams this is Centaur actual, you alright down there?'

'Centaur, you have no idea how good it is to see you.'

General Williams was camped out on the frequency, as ordered by Admiral Drescher via a stealth drone. Suddenly DRADIS let off a string of blips and horror consumed them. A Turian flotilla had been waiting outside DRADIS range, the other three smaller ships were just decoys.

'Seven DRADIS contacts, one dreadnaught,' alerted the Lieutenant.

'Bring us about, all main batteries concentrate fire on the dreadnaught,' ordered the Commander.

The ship slowly banked around to face the incoming fleet, the smaller frigates sped ahead of the dreadnaught like a moving shield. The frigates maneuvered around the flak field, firing their main guns at Centaurs viper squadrons while the dreadnaught moved into position behind them. The frigates had no hope of maneuvering quick enough to combat the vipers but their GARDIAN systems compensated with pin point accuracy. Viper signatures disappeared one after the other, fast and silent.

'Ready the frigates.'

Perseus still had a few tricks up her sleeve. The flight pods were large enough to house a single Alliance frigate each. On the order the frigates fired their maneuvering thrusters and careened from the rear of the flight pods while the point defense systems shut off before firing their main thrusters and speeding towards the battle. The point defense systems re-engaged and the anti-proton engines engaged, giving them even more forward momentum. The closer they drew the more damage they did. Suddenly things were going their way. Perseus had made the situation work to her rules. First rule in battle with the Cylons, gain the upper hand first.

'Steady as she goes, take us right underneath it.'

'The frigates and our vipers aren't going to last much longer,' advised the Colonel.

'We'll have to be quick, once we're underneath them switch all batteries back to salvo fire,' she `ordered.

As the ships pilot and navigator maneuvered them under the dreadnaught the Colonel made the call for the gun captains to go to salvo fire. One line of batteries thumped their rounds into the dreadnaught and while they reloaded the second. By the time the second side had fired the first was reloaded and fired again. The close range fire shredded the lower decks of the dreadnaught and caused massive hull damage along its ventral structure and aft engines.

'Commander, the dreadnaught is powering up its FTL drive,' alerted the lieutenant.

Perseus swiftly picked up the phone and dialed in a number, 'Raptor 314 you're on,' she said.

'Yes sir.'

The Raptor launched a series of disruptor torpedoes at the fleeing dreadnaught. As the torpedoes detonated the dreadnaught was ripped apart by oscillating mass effect fields and the secondary explosions finished the job.

The pilot of the raptor screamed in joy with the viper pilots and the bridge exploded with claps and cheers of success. The Commander smiled to the Colonel and picked up the phone, 'All vipers this is the Commander, come on home.'

'Yes sir,' chuckled the CAG.

General Williams was still on the frequency, unsure what was happening and delighted at the sound of the Commanders voice.

'Sorry about that General, a little complication with the Turians.'

'Admiral you're alive, I thought you were gone,' sighed the General.

'Rapid Response teams are on route, hold tight General, we're coming.'

**Taiyuan city, Shanxi  
>May 20th, 2157<strong>

'Sergeant Miribor, your objective is to secure the General at all costs,' ordered Commander Perseus.

'Copy that Centaur actual, secure the General at all costs.'

'Sergeant, go kill some lizards. Centaur actual out.'

The Sergeant pulled his rifle around and fitted his headset on his ear. The others formed up as the Raptor rattled toward the drop zone. The pilot slung the Raptor through turns like a drifter, punching the thrusters as they exited the turn.

'Drop in 30 seconds marines!' advised the co-pilot.

'Alright marines ready up, keep your eyeballs and your guns at the lizards!' cried Miribor pumping up his men.

'Urah!' they cried in agreement.

'20 seconds to drop!'

The door leading onto the raptors wing slid up as they approached the drop point and the marines formed up on the door with their rifles at the ready. On the final approach bullets tore through the Turians scrambling for cover outside the city's main hall. The city itself was low lying, barely worth calling a city. A series of flat pack boxes stacked on one another along gravel roads. The Main hall was one of few buildings made from raw materials.

The marines filed out as they arrived at the main entrance of the hall, the raptor lifted off and remained in the city on station evacuating civilians to the Alpha site. A temporary disaster relief center had been established in an old research outpost outside the city.

Miribor and his men took a head on approach and entered in through the main entrance which was strangely unlocked. They no doubt heard them coming so why was the door unlocked? Miribor expected a trap and readied accordingly. He sent Corporal Leigh up a nearby set of stairs that lead to a high level looking over the main room. The main room was an oval sitting room for parliament convening's and was the central most room in the structure. The Turians had retreated here and set up cover near all the entrances and snipers at the rear of the room.

Leigh snuck passed a Turian sniper and continued to an even higher level where two snipers stood looking over the rest of the room. He thrust his knife into the back of one's head then brought it around and sliced the second's throat. Marines in the colonial military were trained as snipers, scouts, medics and general ground units to make for more versatility and ease of deployment. One marine garrison aboard a ship is much easier to organize than several sub units.

'Sir, they've got all the doors covered, two snipers on ledges overlooking the room and at five guards on the General,' advised Leigh.

'Copy that Corporal, you handle the two snipers we'll handle the rest.'

'Yes, sir.'

'Weapons free on my mark. 3, 2 … Mark.'

As the order was given the doors exploded, splinters flung across the room startling the Turians. Leigh squeezed off a few rounds into either of the snipers and turned his attention to the lower level. Miribor and the other three overcome the Turians and secured the General. The adrenaline pumping through them kept them alert and on the move.

'Centaur this is Kilo squad, blue eagle is secure, repeat blue eagle is secure,' sounded Miribor over the wireless.

They quickly escorted the General out of the hall and into the smoky air outside. The Turians were spread thin and far between on the ground, not expecting an attack of this scale on the colony.

'Kilo this is Centaur actual, a raptor is almost to you, stay put.'

'Copy that actual staying put.'

**Orbit of Haestrom**

The Valkyrie slowly circled the Geth dreadnaught, taking only minimal damage as its point defense system destroyed most of the incoming projectiles. Viper squadrons chased down Geth fighters, out maneuvering them at every point. A series of vicious cracks rattled the dreadnaught as the Quarian heavy fleet jumped into the system like a flurry of white lights. The heavy fleet turned its guns to the dreadnaught and its support flotilla.

'Heavy fleet on station and ready to assist,' echoed the Quarians voice over the CIC's speakers.

'Copy that Admiral, Valkyrie moving on the Dreadnaught,' replied Commander Nausicaa.

The plan had worked perfectly, their arrival had scrambled the Geth to them and the heavy fleet had a solid few minutes to open up on the flotilla without taking any damage.

'Helm, adjust course 20 degrees starboard, notify gun captains to switch to salvo fire,' ordered Nausicaa.

The ship turned to face the dreadnaught and the Colonel picked up his phone to notify the gun captains of the salvo fire order. The Valkyries main batteries fired in rows, front to back. By the time the back row had fired the front had reloaded and the pattern continued.

'Ready launch tubes one through three,' ordered the Colonel.

The launch tube doors swung up and the chromed missiles showed their polished warheads. The vipers formed up on the Valkyrie as the point defense grid shut off as the missiles launched. A small squadron escorted the missiles while the others broke off again as the point defense cannons warmed up. The Viper squadron sped away from the missiles as they collided with the dreadnaught with silent white explosions. The Valkyrie rattled as the shockwaves from the detonations hit them. The dreadnaught was rendered dead by the nuclear detonations and its support fleet strategically began to retreat.

'All Viper squadrons press the attack, take out their drives!'

The viper squadrons chased down the Geth fleet and fired off explosive rounds into exhaust ports from the mass effect cores. Their mass effect cores exploded from the excess heat and secondary explosions, like a flurry of blue fireworks had exploded.

'Woo, yeah baby!' cried a pilot.

'All planes return to Valkyrie, I repeat come on home,' ordered the Colonel.

The Vipers scrambled to return to the Valkyrie with controlled landings, carefully landing in the ships flight pods. A single squadron continued on CAP duties in case any Geth fighters remained.

'Commander Nausicaa, on behalf of the Quarian people I give you great thanks,' congratulated Admiral Han'Gerrel.

'It's the least we could do Admiral. The Valkyrie will continue flying CAP until you give the word,' replied the Commander.

'Actually I have something for you. You're free to leave under your own order Commander, Admiral Han'Gerrel out.'

A data packet came through on multiple pieces of paper. The young woman manning communications handed them to the Commander then returned to her station.

'What is it?' asked the Colonel.

'Well I'll be damned.'

**PRIORITY TRANSMISSION TO THE COUNCIL**

** SENDER COUNCIL OBSERVATION MISSION 0032**

** CAPTAIN BERELIUS YIVION**

**THE TURIANS ARE ESCALATING THEIR CONFLICTS WITH THIS HUMANITY TO FULL SCALE WAR. SINCE THE ALTERCATION AT RELAY 314 THE TURIAN HAVE BEEN TRYING EVERYTHING AGAINST THE HUMANS BUT SEEM TO BE OUT SMARTED AT EVERY TURN. ON ALL OCASSIONS ONE SHIP AS BEEN THE CAUSE OF THEIR DEFEAT, ONE CALLING ITSELF THE BATTLESTAR CENTAUR. THIS SHIP AS SMITED A WHOLE TURIAN FLOTILLA WITH ONLY ITSELF AND TWO SMALLER FRIGATES. HUMANITY COULD BE POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS IF REVEALED TO THE GREATER POPULATION.**

**HOWEVER THE WAR WITH THE TURIANS COULD RESULT IN THE DESTRUCTION OF BOTH CIVILISATIONS IN A LONG AND BLOODY WAR. COUNCIL INTERVENTION IS NECESSARY IF BOTH THE TURIANS AND HUMANS ARE GOING TO SURVIVE.**

**TRANSMISSION END**

** COUNCIL OBSERVATION MISSION 0032**

** CAPTAIN BERELIUS YIVION**

The Commander looked across the table to the Colonel and gave a small smirk. The Quarians had given him the information he needed to pin point the Centaur and Commander Perseus. He handed one piece of paper over to the Colonel who quickly skimmed over it before giving the Commander a similar smirk.

'What about the others?' asked the Colonel.

The Commander looked at the second sheet and his smile look of content changed to concerned one. He flicked through the others with an unchanged expression and gave a slight glance to the Colonel again.

'Come with me to my quarters,' said the Commander.

'Yes sir, Major Michel you have the conn.'

**Research Analysis 023**

** NAME Zaanna'Faalun vas Taraka**

** DATE 1820 CE**

**The recovery department have brought me in more of these mechanical corpses. Dating suggests these things aren't very old, this discovery should push AI research decades. This technology is far different to ours and in some ways superior, the cognitive processors are astounding and the Meta-Cognitive processor give this machine higher thinking capabilities. **

**When online this machine could effectively make decisions on its own and actually emulate bipedal movement. We will have to implement serious barriers on higher thinking process to make them totally subservient and design a new appearance. The current shell is far too chrome for my liking and fear inspiring. The name needs to be changed as well. Cylon has no meaning here … how about Geth: servant over the people**

'My gods, the Geth are Cylons. They're just centurions with a new paint job,' said the colonel, obviously baffled.

'The original Cylons could still be out there somewhere,' said Dr Orestes.

'Commander Perseus should be briefed on this,' advised the Colonel.

'Agreed, let's go get the Centaur and nail these frakking toasters once and for all,' said the Commander.

'A-frakkin-men.'


	5. Hope

**May 20****th****, 2157  
>Earth Orbit<strong>

'I can't plot the jump back, at least not accurately,' said Dr Orestes.

'How long would it take to make an accurate calculation?' asked Commander Perseus.

'I really couldn't tell you, it would be a series of trial and error … maybe tomorrow … maybe in a decade.'

With that Commanders Perseus and Nausicaa were confined to the fact that they weren't getting home anytime soon.

**London … later that day**

Perseus and Nausicaa wore their ceremonial uniforms with a leather sash decorated with their medals and commendations. The Quarian Admirals stood at a rounded table across from them and the Alliance fleet admirals sat at another rounded table at the top of the small square. All around them Alliance delegates sat watching them with an almost grateful glare.

'This meeting is now in session, the colonial delegates shall begin the proceedings,' said Admiral Grissom.

Perseus had been in the Colonial navy longer than Nauiscaa and was considered a superior officer in every way, she stepped up to the speaker's podium.

'Good morning. Recently it has been brought to my attention that the race of machines that all but obliterated my people are still in existence. The Quarian's created the Geth from dormant Cylon parts, making the Geth our enemy as much as the Quarian's enemy. So today I put this to you all, the Colonial fleet moves that a habitable planet within Alliance territory be granted to us to restart our people, to begin anew.'

Murmurs stirred around them and Grissom slammed his wooden mallet to promote order. Silence fell over the room and Grissom cast the vote to the delegates of the semi-official Alliance parliament. The votes came in on a screen on the desk he sat behind.

'55% of the parliament is in favor, motion carries!'

He slammed the mallet once again and the court rose into an entanglement of uproar and celebration. Perseus looked back at Nausicaa who was brimming with glee, giggling and fidgeting. She contained herself, barely. She'd taught herself to be stoic and calm. Recent events were hard to comprehend, everything they loved had been taken and she caved under the pressure of all those souls that had died.

'The parliament has a list of planets open to you for colonization, I will give them to you after the proceedings. Does the Colonials have any further motions?'

'No Admiral, no further motions.'

Perseus returned to her place beside Nausicaa. He lightly nudged at her until she broke and gave a satisfied giggle. Nausicaa was always one to be over eccentric and playful, making light of bad situations.

**After the meeting…**

'The alliance is prepared to offer any assistance in the colonization effort,' said Grissom.

'We owe you that much,' added Drescher.

The Commanders and the Quarian Admirals walked onto a large landing pad. Two raptors and one Kodiak shuttle waited for them on the circle pad at the end of the walkway.

'I'm sure we can manage, but I think it's in all of our interests we stay in touch,' said Nausicaa.

'Agreed, the Alliance and Colonial – Quarian conglomerate could use an ally like you,' said Admiral Teemorn.

'You can't keep calling yourselves that y'know.'

As they stopped at the center of the landing pad, ready to go their separate ways for now Grissom and the other Alliance Admirals turned to face them.

'I think we'll just stick with the colonials, it has a ring to it,' said Teemorn.

'Agreed, the colonials it is then,' said Nausicaa.

Xavier stepped off of a raptor and walked toward the conglomeration of Admirals. He felt intimidated by the presence of so many superior officers and as he saluted they all turned to face him making the anxiety worse. The anxiety was suddenly interrupted by surprise as he noticed both Perseus and Nausicaa were both wearing fleet Admirals stars, then the anxiety returned in floods. Perseus and Nausicaa casually saluted him, something officers of equal rank do.

'Afternoon Admiral Xavier,' greeted Perseus.

Xavier merely stood in a stunned pose with his arms hanging at his sides and a blank gaze. Perseus quickly realized she'd jumped the gun and pulled out a small blue box which she opened to reveal a set of rear Admirals stars.

'Sorry for the informalities, Rear Admiral Michael Xavier,' she apologized extending a hand.

He shook it in a buzz of excitement. She fitted the new pins to his uniform and stepped back with a smile of contempt on her face. He didn't understand. This would mean that he would be commanding more than one ship, yet there were only two battlestars.

'Thank you Admirals, but might I ask what I will be commanding?'

'You'll be commanding Valkyrie and Centaur, heading up recon of the potential planets to settle,' said Perseus.

'Then where will you both be?'

'Admiral Nausicaa will be overseeing the construction of a new Battlestar and I will become a member of the Quarian Admiralty in preparation for our settlement.'

Recon was something Xavier knew a lot about, that's what he and his crew did much of aboard the Sage. The Centaur was indeed a fine ship but she wasn't as knew anymore, the battle over Canceron didn't exactly do them any favors.

**February 13****th****, 43BCH  
>Helios Delta system<strong>

'Raptor 375, this is Centaur you have the ball.'

'Copy Centaur, we have the ball.'

The hull of the Centaur was brand new and unmarked, gloss in appearance and grey in color. Its Colonial seal was fitted into the dorsal section at the lip of the 'alligator' head and the central section. Large dual barreled main batteries rested against the hull in standby pose, waiting to see their first battle. The Raptor slowed down to touch down on the floor of the flight pod with a clunk and the landing platform began to descend through floor, transporting them to the flight decks.

Commander Perseus stood on the CIC reading through some paperwork, the fleet was readying for an assault any day now. The Cylon's had been making advances towards Canceron and now that they were here everything seemed so much more frightening. Perseus was once the XO aboard the Galactica under Silas Nash. Silas was the person who taught her how this war defined them, how this war with machines will shape things to come; the shape of things to come. Xavier walked onto the CIC clutching the file given to him by the Admiral and approached the Commander. He stopped at her side and saluted while handing the file to her. The Commander saluted in return and Xavier stood at ease. Perseus took the file and quickly flicked through it.

'So, your my XO; I've heard great things of you and your little pocket battlestar.'

'All tall tales I assure you, we don't get up to much these days.'

'I'll keep you busy, no shortage of action here.'

'I'm honored to serve aboard such a remarkable vessel.'

'Then take your post, Colonel Xavier.'

He walked around the table and stood across from Perseus with the feeling of completion in his gut, the only milestone left was to become commander of a Jupiter class Battlestar. Suddenly DRADIS blipped and unknown contact appeared on the screens above the table.

'DRADIS contact, has to be a raider bearing 117 kerum 344.'

'Well Colonel, you picked one hell of a day to join us.'

Xavier pulled the phone from its cradle and dialed in the ships intercom. As he placed the phone to his ear the Commander nodded in contempt at her new XO's initiative.

'Attention, this is the XO. Launch the alert Vipers and bring the ship to condition one…'

The Colonel continued to ramble the usual contact babble and by the time six base stars jumped in all of Centaur's Vipers were in the air.

'Get me the Admiral,' ordered Perseus.

Admiral Hail and the Helios Delta defense fleet were in a solar orbit between Canceron and Aerilon while the Centaur, Aquaria and Pyxis acted as advanced scout pickets on the systems outer reaches.

'This is Hades Actual.'

'Admiral, we have six Cylon base stars bearing down on us at bearing 117 kerum 344.'

'Tally all Centaur, fleet inbound, ETA is 20 minutes.'

The Admiral cut the channel and Perseus knew that their chances of surviving six base stars were slim at best.

'Spool up the FTL in case,' ordered the Colonel.

Once agin Perseus was pleased with Xavier's initiative, most XO's would wait for their commander's order but Xavier had the expertise and battle logic to know. The gun captains sighted in and the battle began. Guided Cylon missiles cruised into the thick hull of the Centaur, giving it its first battle scars. The point defense system did its job to the best of its ability but missiles still came through and pounded the Battlestar. Red lights began blinking along the ships starboard flight pod.

'Commander any more hits to the starboard flight pod and we'll have explosive decompression!'

'Helm adjust position 360 kerum!'

They were thrown about with every impact and suddenly a massive explosion threw Xavier and Perseus to the floor. As they clambered to their feet the damage control commander came from the small room at the far right corner of the CIC.

'We just lost maneuvering thrusters!'

Perseus could see death staring them all in the face. She knew deserting the fleet was an offense punishable by death but the fleet could handle the base stars. It would another 5 minutes until the fleet arrived but by then they would be stuck without any means of escape.

'Point defense system is offline!'

'…This is the XO retract the flight pods, all hands prepare for a combat jump.'

The Colonel signaled for the recall of all vipers and they all touched down without fault as the flight pods closed up and more missiles thumped into the Centaur. As the flight pods locked in the radiological alarm sounded and the Commander gave the order to jump the ship. As the ship made the jump the nuke detonated in a bright white explosion, sending an eradiated shockwave for kilometers. The Centaur reemerged amongst an asteroid field within a thundering nebula. DRADIS echoed with static from the nebula as random contacts reappeared and disappeared. The crew recovered and damage control teams dispersed to the badly damaged sections of the ship. The phone buzzed and the Commander picked it up in seeming anticipation.

'Admiral, this is Centaur Actual.'

'Commander Perseus, welcome to the Ghost fleet.


End file.
